Last week, I woke up in the morning thinking about TOK on one of the TOK focus days. The past 3 mornings, I woke up realising that I was dreaming about my EE. Each dream had something to do with trying to improve my setup (which I’m not done with). I seemed to manage to find (or nearly find) a solution to setup problems at the end of each dream. But whenever I tried to think about what the solution was, I always couldn’t seem to recall. Till now, I can’t. I hate my conscious mind.. It really restricts my thinking.

I tried living the life of a philosopher (or thinker) the last three days, and I’m spending the next three days of this week living like a researcher.

Today, I started work on my Physics EE. I’m doing something on tennis racquet strings and the elasticity of the string bed. I went through so much trouble trying to complete the setup of my experiment. The most annoying thing I had to consider was making sure string tension was kept constant when I tried to string my model. Oh yes, not to forget, I spent the whole morning trying to construct a suitable model. Back to string tension.. I tried using a pulley system by lowering a mass down the building from the window of the Physics lab on the 2nd floor. Some people who walked from the canteen to the classroom block were observant enough to notice a mass dangling from above. At one point, the string holding the pulley from the window snapped and I was in a state of shock. Thankfully, the mass didn’t crash onto the ground or worse still, on an unfortunate person’s head.

After spending 6 hours working in the lab, I only managed to generate one preliminary set of data, and I’m thinking of changing my model and setup again tomorrow. I’ll have 8 hours to do that.

After CCA, I was talking to someone who was doing Econs EE and she already completed 1800 words (while people like me still haven’t settled their setup). What’s more, she said the Econs people spent the day slacking, eating Macs and plying guitar hero. Gah… Science is all about perseverance. But I must say, I did enjoy the process of working around my problems and scouring the physics labs for any tools and material I could possibly use.

Looks like the lab is going to be my second home for the next few weeks..

I’m almost brain-dead from thinking of TOK practically the whole day. This week, I’ll be climbing Mount EETOK(IA). Hopefully I’ll reach the summit in one piece.

EETOKIA stands for Extended Essay, Theory of Knowledge and Internal Assessments.

Till my brain is in better shape, I’ll post again.

I don’t know why, but I feel quite quite relaxed now. The truth is, I’m only halfway through my exams. But so far, the papers have been ok, in that I haven’t been slaughtered too badly. Today’s math paper was also especially fulfilling. No, I didn’t know how to do every single question, but I managed to work through most of them. This is in direct contrast to my first class test (where I nearly failed) and common test when I felt a tremendous sense of guilt after the paper and only managed 6 points (equivalent to an A2).

Oh and all the talk about my principal has been quite interesting but shocking as well. I was very surprised when I received an sms from my uncle asking to confirm if my principal really resigned. My first reaction – disbelief. And then, when it slowly sank in, I wondered if the school would survive. There’s just this sense of uncertainty till now, like riding a bike with your eyes closed. I’ve yet to see what will happen from now on. It was almost 10pm when the news was broadcasted. But the whole school knew about it even before the Board could give an official announcement the next morning. News like this sure spreads round the school community really fast. I saw some reporters standing around in school, probably trying to get some students to be interviewed. Of course, we were told not to entertain them. But somehow, I think the media is a more reliable source of information. It seems like the school is trying to keep something away from us. Like while announcing, they didn’t explicitly say there was a complaint lodged. They kept emphasizing on health issues, retirement, enjoying life etc. But in their press statement, they admitted that there was a complaint lodged. Stuff like that are what make me think the school is trying to withhold information or hide something from the rest of the population.

Happy children’s day!

I still remember, exactly a year ago, I took the O level music performance exam.

Quite coincidentally, today was the start of my exams (not including Chinese prelims last last week). So far, it’s been ok. I’ve just been killed a bit, but not too bad. I hope I’ll show more improvement.

Actually, part of me doesn’t want exams to be over. Because once exams are over, firstly, I’ll have to face my results. Secondly, I have to start on my EE. Thirdly, I have to write the TOK essay. The list could go on, but I think I’ll stop here. In short, life after exams is just going to get busier.

I’m still considering something which I can’t really reveal yet. I’m unsure about what to do for now. I’m still waiting for an answer, or so I think. I typed this so anyone who happens to pass by can help pray for me, that I’ll have the wisdom and courage I need to make the right decision. (Thanks)

Oh and I just remembered, less than half my class turned up for school yesterday – 11/28. Other classes were worse, one I heard only had 5 people. I considered pon-ing school at first but decided not to because it didn’t agree with my moral standards (because I’d have to end up lying that I was sick). But anyway, it was a really enjoyable day because of the small class size. I could ask any question I wanted, and managed to do self-studying, so the day didn’t seem wasted after all. One more thing - I played water polo for PE, which was quite fun.